test blog 3

Further to my recent post about the Brockways in Port Colborne, Ontario, Russell at Adopt Resistance has a great post about the event, plus links to video: here . Russell says: "Hopefully some of those people driving around with the "Support the troops" ribbons on their cars will figure out how to help veterans like Jeremy."

Last night, a few carloads of members of the War Resisters Support Campaign traveled to Port Colborne to support Jeremy and Ashlea Brockway, a war-resister family who lives in that small town on Lake Erie. (I posted two local stories about the Brockways last week.) Our supporters from Buffalo were there - we've gone from never having met in person to seeing each other every month! - as well as a meeting-house full of local supporters. It was an emotionally intense evening. I imagine every person in that room was deeply affected by what they saw and heard. Reverend Robert Hurkmans of St. James and St. Brendans Anglican Church welcomed us, then showed the Campaign's original movie, "Let Them Stay". I hadn't seen it in a long time, and it's as moving and inspiring as ever. Many of the people attending this event were hearing about the war resisters movement for the first time, and the movie is an excellent introduction. After that, I was called upon to say a f...

What kind of a country are we living in when Members of Parliament attack one of their own colleagues and demand her resignation for expressing a point of view different from their own? This insane attempt to censure and stigmatize any discussion about the Palestinian people that isn't simply "Israel good, Palestine bad" is completely out of control. It is a mass hysteria. We cannot make it go away but we cannot allow it stand unchallenged. British MP George Galloway, a peace activist, is called a terrorist, because he gave money to Hamas. Organizers of Israel Apartheid Week are condemned and harassed and vilified . The words "Israeli apartheid" have been banned from Canada's largest Pride week. They're banning words , people! Doesn't that make you sit up and take notice?! Now Libby Davies, as fine an MP as this country has, a woman as committed to justice and equality as any public figure you'll meet, is being attacked in the House of Commons ...

Check out this amazing young person, Olivia Bouler. This is the kind of story I used to try to write about when I was writing professionally. (Past tense... wow.) Olivia Bouler doesn’t have time for anything else these days except to draw and paint. But that’s OK for the artistic fifth-grader, because everything she does is for the birds. The Islip, N.Y., girl, who turns 11 on Friday, has raised an estimated $80,000 by sending her sketches and paintings of birds to people who donate to organizations helping with relief efforts in the Gulf of Mexico spill disaster. “I do some in the mornings and some in the afternoons, and weekends are really the time for me get cracking at them,” Olivia told msnbc.com on Thursday in a telephone interview as she and her parents were headed to the Gulf for a visit. Olivia came up with the idea to help birds in the Gulf four days after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the nation’s worst oil spill. Olivia...

Back here , I listed the talks I attended at the 2010 Marxism conference, and said I planned to write about them in more detail, and post video when possible. Everything has taken much longer than planned (what else is new), and I'm having some trouble getting my hands on the audio and video files I wanted. But I am still planning on writing about these talks: "20 years since Oka: the fight for indigenous sovereignty" with Ellen Gabriel . "From South Africa to Israel: histories of Apartheid" with Joe Kelly, a South African activist, and Clare O'Connor, from the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid . I am waiting to get an audio recording of this, so I can check my notes and post the most accurate information. Kelly laid out the case for why it is accurate, appropriate and historical to refer to Israel as an apartheid state, and I don't want to miss any of it. "After Cochabamba: the fight for climate justice". This was a panel talk by Andrea H...

We're going back to Jungle Cat World today. And we're meeting these guys! There's something wrong about humans touching and playing with wolves, something wrong about a wolf in captivity. It makes me uncomfortable. But I understand that there's a need for this, if species are going to survive. Jungle Cat World does a lot of education and conservation work, and they take very good care of their animals. One of these lucky boys will be a mate for Bianca, the Arctic Wolf who honoured us with her howl on our first visit. These photos of the new wolf pups are by the wildlife photographer WildByDesign . If you like them, I hope you'll visit his Deviant Art page. If you click on Gallery , you can sort by type of animal. I risk becoming obsessed with his wolves and foxes page. His work is amazing. My post about our first trip to Jungle Cat World (with some photos and links to more) is here. An update on the animals we saw there is here.

Birthdays are a time for indulgence. My partner and best friend knows I feel this way, and he indulges me. Today I spent the whole day - a day I am normally at work - sitting on my patio, reading Little Dorrit and playing with my dogs. Well, watching Cody sleep and playing with Tala. Now I have just poured myself a glass of wine and am sitting down to watch Episode 1, Season One, of "Xena Warrior Princess". Next to Dallas, this is my favourite junk food for the brain. Really, I like it better than Dallas, because I have a thing for Gabrielle . Plus I love the hodge-podge mythology and I get to see New Zealand. I don't usually do the "look what I got for my birthday" thing, but I am so excited about owning the entire Xena series that I had to post about it! There was also Rocky & Bullwinkle, a book by a war resister, and big stack of music. I rarely buy myself anything, then Allan makes up for it all at once. Now back to Xena!